Exclusive: Over 50% of console gamers are interested in subscribing to Google Stadia, new survey reveals

58% of console gamers are interested in Stadia, and expect the subscription fee to be around £12/$15, says Harris Interactive

Over 50% of console gamers in the UK are interested in subscribing to Google Stadia, the newly revealed cloud gaming service due to be released by the tech giant later this year, reveals a new survey from technology research firm Harris Interactive*, presented in association with GamesRadar+.

A sizeable portion of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo's playerbase could make the jump to cloud streaming for their interactive entertainment in the near future, claims Harris Interactive, who interviewed over 2000 participants via a bespoke online poll, where 34% of its responders expressed interested in subscribing to Stadia, jumping to an interest level of 58% among console gamers. What's more, the poll found that 4 in 10 people in the UK were already aware of Google Stadia within a week of its big reveal, and over a third of the participating console gamers admitted to being "very familiar" of the service's upcoming release. This level of awareness bodes well for Google, which is keen to reach as wide a market as possible.

How significant is cloud gaming?

How much do people expect to pay for Google Stadia?

However, one of the key barriers to subscription identified by Harris Interactive is Stadia's yet to be announced subscription fee. The survey found that the general expectation for Stadia's service is around £12 a month (which translates as $16 in the US), but many in the poll expressed reservations about the "rent rather than own aspect" of the platform; a concern that was more prevalent than worries over the technical barriers to entry such as internet bandwidth speed.

Harris Interactive also found evidence to suggest a strong loyalty amongst console gamers to their platform of choice, despite that demographic also expressing the most interest in Stadia. The question is whether users can afford both a PS5 and/or Xbox Project Scarlett in addition to a Google Stadia subscription in the future and, if not, which option they ultimately go for when faced with the choice. You can read the full and final report from Harris Interactive here, which goes into more detail about the findings from the study, including the methodology that went into the polling process itself.